BBDLM 6

Prompt: Our job as educators is to 'educate' students so they will in turn become productive citizens. Our job
is not to eradicate home languages, culture, customs, ways of being, etc., but to teach students the sufficient
content so they will have skills to be successful in life. Write on the importance as to why we need to respect
students for whom they are instead of viewing people in terms of 'Assimilation over education' motto.

Our focus turns again to the goals of public schooling articulated in the early-to-mid
1800s, which primarily centered around:
uniting the American population by instilling common moral and political
values[i]t was believed that if all children were exposed to a common
instruction in morality and politics, the nation might become free of crime,
immoral behavior, and the possibility of political revolutionThese educational
goals have persisted into the twenty-first century with government policies still
calling upon schools to instill in students moral values, a common cultural
identity, and civic values (Spring, 2014, p. 7).
Yet, does the quest for a common cultural identity in effect quash the vital, positive benefits of a
diverse student population bringing their own cultural, social and ethnic nuances to the table?
Studies conducted to date would suggest this is so. Spring notes Court rulings are quite clear
that the primary task of schools is to teach standard Englishand that other languagesare to
be used as a means to achieve that goal (Spring, 2014, p. 149). Moving student populations
toward fluent use of English is considered a cornerstone of providing for equal educational
opportunity (Spring, 2014, p. 150).
The negative impact delivered by the shame elements associated with potentially
suppressing a students background in favor of a common cultural identity is harming enough.
Exacerbating this problem is the continuing existence of limited-English-proficient populations
being segregated into typically low-achieving, high-poverty schools (Spring, 2014, p. 152). Yet,
this current reality seems to be transitioning to a more positive one as the national population of
second generation children of immigrants increase in number.

Researchers using different theoretical lenses reach quite similar conclusions

about today's children of immigrants. In general, the second generation is doing
much better than its parents in educational attainment...The overwhelming
majority of the second generation is completely fluent in English and integrated in
many ways in American societyYet most of its members have not reached
parity with native whites, and many experience racial discrimination (Alba, et al,
2015, p. 2).
There are hopeful signs that this discrimination is waning. Over the next quarter century,
there will be much more ethno-racial diversity in the middle, and even the upper, levels of
American society. This diversity will affect the boundaries between groups, probably blurring
themand furthering socially intimate, cross-ethnic ties (Alba, et al, 2015, p. 3). Tempering
this positive news is a study by Hailer, Portes and Lynch1:
suggest[ing] that research using a mainstream- assimilation perspective is
masking the dire situation of a substantial portion of the contemporary second
generation, which is at risk of gang membership, incarceration and membership in
the underclass. This discussion implies that the assimilation-related research is
giving false reassurance to the majority of Americans that all is well, when in fact
a clarion call for urgently needed policy interventions should go out(Alba, et al,
2015, p. 3).
Alba and colleagues hold that assimilation in both segmented and mainstream environments is
the key to a more successful second generation of immigrants. This involves an in with the old /
in with the new philosophy, one I support with enthusiasm.
References
Alba, R., Kasinitz, P., & Waters, M. C. (2011). Commentary: The kids are (mostly) alright:
Second-generation assimilation: Comments on Haller, Portes and Lynch. Social Forces,
89(3), 763-773. doi:10.1093/sf/89.3.763.
Spring, J. H. (2014). American education (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

1 Cited in the Alba study.